EVITA Revival on the way?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 9:58am

American Repertory Theater, in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company, will produce a new revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita May 14 through July 16, 2023 at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square. Sammi Cannold will direct. Casting will be announced at a later date. Following its run at A.R.T., the production will play at STC in Washington, D.C. as part of its 2023/24 season.
 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:13am

STC is putting up Evita? o.O

That's an interesting choice for them. I wonder which venue it will end up in.

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:16am

Solea Pfeiffer was an absolute knockout in Sammi Cannold's production of Evita at City Center back in 2019. After seeing her tour de force performance, I can't imagine anyone else in the role.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:16am

STC was staging it pre-COVID, so happy it is coming back. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:43am

Ehhh...

[Kad]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:45am

I hope Cannold has abandoned the wholly pointless split casting of Eva that she deployed in the Encores staging. 

[Chase Miller]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 11:03am

Can we get Lea as Eva?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 11:12am

I don’t know that we should consider this a Broadway-aimed revival. There was also the NYCC version directed by Cannold, which wasn’t all that well received. This could just be a pair of regional theatres joining forces to revive the show.

Especially considering how poorly the last revival did, Ricky Martin’s ticket sales aside.

[etimer13]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 11:42am

Eden Espinosa and Ben Crawford were incredible in a Nashville regional production of Evita in 2016. Would love to see either or both get the chance to do it again.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 12:05pm

I loved this at City Center. Solea Pfeiffer was a thrilling Eva. I also really enjoyed Cannold's direction, and I can't wait to see what she does with creating a more realized production.

[MsPiety&Rectitude]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 1:02pm

bwayphreak234 said: "I loved this at City Center. Solea Pfeiffer was a thrilling Eva. I also really enjoyed Cannold's direction, and I can't wait to see what she does with creating a more realized production."

Agreed, Solea was excellent. I’d love to see her do it again, this time as the full role. (I thought Maia Reficco was great too, just don’t see the need for or benefit of splitting the role)

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 1:12pm

I thought splitting the role worked particularly for things like Another Suitcase and also the way the ending was staged, but there were times where it felt like they needed to make more use of Maia Reficco and didn't know what else to do with her.  I think the transition would've also made more sense to happen during Good Night and Thank You, but I won't complain about Solea getting to sing a verse of Buenos Aires.  I hope that if she does do it again we'll get a cast album out of it.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 3:47pm

If any revival of EVITA gets to New York, it should absolutely be Jamie Lloyd's production from Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, that starred Samantha Pauly, Trent Saunders, & Ektor Rivera. It was MIND BLOWING. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 3:52pm

etimer13 said: "Eden Espinosa and Ben Crawford were incredible in a Nashville regional production of Evita in 2016. Would love to see either or both get the chance to do it again."

 

The 2 of them put together would sell about a dozen tickets.

 

[etimer13]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 4:09pm

JSquared2 said: "etimer13 said: "Eden Espinosa and Ben Crawford were incredible in a Nashville regional production of Evita in 2016. Would love to see either or both get the chance to do it again."



The 2 of them put together would sell about a dozen tickets.

"

I'm not sure about a dozen, but they'd sell at least one.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 4:41pm

Evita, like most revivals, is not going to sell without a major star or two. There are very few who can sing it AND are of significant name value AND you probably need a mostly-Argentinian cast. It’s a tall order.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 4:55pm

No idea if either of these things mean anything, but Rachel Zegler posted the Playbill announcement on her Instagram stories, and, over the past couple of days, she had an exchange on Twitter where she replied with Evita lyrics.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/rachelzegler/2987390474696732173/

https://twitter.com/rachelzegler/status/1599604779453272064

Updated On: 12/6/22 at 04:55 PM

[Bravo2398]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 5:02pm

Ooh!! I think this is some of the most exciting theatre news I've heard lately. I ADORED the production at the City Center. Exhilarating in all the right ways.

To see a production of Evita that had the vitality and conceptual flair of the original while also being so thoughtful, original, and forward-thinking in its approach. Not to mention the outstanding, largely Latin cast. This is an Evita for today.

I can't wait to see what this is like as a fully formed production. I'll be getting my tickets as soon as they're available and have no doubt it'll be worth the drive to Boston.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 8:26pm

Kad said: "I hope Cannold has abandoned the wholly pointless split casting of Eva that she deployed in the Encores staging."

Oh, it will stay. Everyone around knows of her massive ego.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:42pm

While everyone's running around calling it "wholly pointless," I'd just like to remind everyone that Hal Prince strongly considered casting three Evas for different parts of her life. Cannold's choice is not unprecedented, and frankly, it makes me wonder why she is taking such stick for it. (I'm not surprised that she is -- this is BWW, after all -- but I do wonder what in particular makes a modified version of the same idea Hal had so terrible. Couldn't be that the director's a young female upstart, could it?)

[Kad]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:47pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "While everyone's running around calling it "wholly pointless," I'd just like to remind everyone that Hal Prince strongly considered castingthreeEvas for different parts of her life. Cannold's choice is not unprecedented, and frankly, it makes me wonder why she is taking such stick for it. (I'm not surprised that she is -- this is BWW, after all -- but I do wonder what in particular makes a modified version of the same idea Hal had so terrible. Couldn't be that the director's a young female upstart, could it?)"

I didn’t know that fact about Prince’s concept…  which he did not actually go through with. Something that didn’t happen can hardly be a precedent. 
I actually saw the Encores production and no, it did not work. it was pointless as executed by Cannold. Implying this is bias against female directors based on not well known trivia about the show is an absurd reach. 

Updated On: 12/6/22 at 10:47 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 10:50pm

What a pity he didn't... how many performers had to grind out their voices before the production consented to an alternate when spreading the load would have mitigated that a great deal? Much as it did at Encores...

[NormaD11]

Posted: 12/6/22 at 11:12pm

I thought it was phenomenal at Encores. Praying this transfers and we'll get the thrilling, visionary revival Broadway deserves.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 12/7/22 at 12:04am

I had very mixed thoughts about the city center production (including Pfeiffer’s casting), but I wish the best for this production. 

[BJR]

Posted: 12/7/22 at 8:36am

Oof that City Center production was terrible. Amatuerish.